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The Prototype Publishing Prize

Information
Closing date: 
31 January 2024
Entry: 
Open to writers resident in the UK or Ireland. No entry fee
Prize: 
£3,000 plus publication by Prototype will go to the best book-length project A second prize of £2,000 plus publication by Monitor Books will be awarded to the best proposal for a short-form work.

Prototype Publishing, along with partners Monitor Books and frieze magazine, has announced the Prototype Prize, a new, bi-annual prize for published or unpublished writers and artists working at the intersections of different literary and artistic forms.

The prize of £3,000 plus publication by Prototype will go to the best book-length project by a writer or artist resident in the UK or Ireland. A second prize of £2,000 plus publication by Monitor Books will be awarded to the best proposal for a short-form work. Both prize-winners will have an excerpt of their work published by frieze.

The judges for the inaugural prize are Bhanu Kapil, Tom McCarthy and Elizabeth Price, who will work alongside an editorial board from the publishers.

Submissions of work that "interrogates the boundaries of established formal, narrative and genre conventions" are encouraged. Fiction, poetry and non-fiction prose are all eligible, with no restrictions on style, form or subject-matter, with interdisciplinary approaches particularly welcomed.

The prize will open for submissions for one month in January 2024. A shortlist of five proposals will be chosen by the judges and announced in June 2024, and the two winners announced at an event at the South London Gallery in September 2024, with both books published in spring 2025. The prize is supported by Shane Akeroyd, Sadie Coles and Emmanuel Roman, and by public funding from Arts Council England.

The Prototype Prize will run in conjunction with an adjacent development programme in partnership with New Writing North, supporting underrepresented and emerging writers and artists through a six-month long scheme consisting of monthly seminars with leading practitioners, and editorial development and group feedback sessions. This programme is open for submissions from 13th September until 23rd October 2023.

Please check exact dates of opening and closing of the Prize on the website.

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The Selfies Book Awards UK 2024

Information
Closing date: 
7 January 2024
Entry: 
Authors who have self-published adult fiction, children’s fiction or adult non-fiction in the UK between January and December 2023. Entry fee: £35 per title to include a six-month subscription to Bookbrunch
Prize: 
£750 cash prize for each category plus other prizes

Now in their sixth year, the hugely popular Selfies book awards - powered by UK trade journal BookBrunch and sponsored by Ingram Spark® and LitPR- will again reward three self-published authors for their publishing excellence.

Supported by the London Book Fair and NielsenIQ, these awards recognise one of the fastest growing parts of the book market, with submissions now open for indie authors who in 2023 have published a book in three categories: adult fiction, children's books or, for the first time, adult general non-fiction.

Submissions will be accepted until midnight on Tuesday 2 January 2024. Shortlists will be announced in February, and the three winners will be announced in the London Book Fair Author HQ on 12 March 2024.

Jo Henry, Managing Director of BookBrunch, said: "We are always eager to see the wealth of titles published by independent authors in the UK. Over the past five years we have had an exceptionally rich pool of self-published books submitted that we are incredibly pleased to help bring to a wider audience. I am sure that this coming year will be even better!"

The winner in each category receives £750 plus a profile in BookBrunch and full PR support for their title, while all shortlisted authors receive access to LitPR's education and empowerment resources and free entry to the London Book Fair and membership of the Author HQ club. Comprising a theatre and networking area, Author HQ provides a forum for discussions on approaches to publishing and includes networking events and 'how-to' style panels, one of which will be curated by the Selfies this year. Shortlisted authors will also be invited to a networking event at the London Book Fair hosted by IngramSpark.

The shortlisted titles are judged by experts from the book industry who are looking for: A fantastic story that entertains and delights the reader; A well-produced book; An enticing cover and blurb that successfully addresses the target audience; and finally, an effective and creative marketing and publicity strategy that has the potential for great sales.

All titles submitted for the 2024 awards need to have been published in English between January and December 2023. Entries will only be accepted from UK authors who are predominantly or only self-published, ie where the author themselves acts as the publisher/creative director.

In order to register, authors should go to www.bookbrunch.co.uk, click on the subscribe button and select the 6 month subscription box, using the code SELFIESBOOKAWARDS2024. The fee of £35 will include a six-month subscription to BookBrunch (normally £65). Please see www.theselfies.co.uk for more details, and follow along on #theselfiesbookawards.

 

The Moth Poetry Prize 2023

Information
Closing date: 
31 December 2023
Entry: 
Open to all poets over 16 for an unpublished poem. Entry fee €15 per poem and you can enter as many poems as you like
Prize: 
1st prize €6,000, plus three runner-up prizes of €1,000 and eight commended poets will each receive €250

The Moth Poetry Prize is one of the biggest prizes in the world for a single unpublished poem. The prize is open to anyone, as long as the poem is previously unpublished, and each year it attracts thousands of entries from new and established poets from over 50 countries worldwide.The prize is for an unpublished poem, and entrants (over 16) are welcome from anywhere in the world.

The four shortlisted poems will be published in the spring 2023 issue of The Moth and the overall winner will be announced at a special award ceremony at Poetry IrelandThe website of the Irish National Poetry Organisation, offering a resource centre, introductions and readings from new and emerging poets resident in Ireland. www.poetryireland.ie in the spring.

There is an entry fee of €15 per poem and you can enter as many poems as you like.

The overall winner of €6,000 will be announced at a special award ceremony online in the spring of 2024.

This year's judge is Hannah Sullivan, who is an Associate Professor of English at New College, Oxford. Her debut collection, Three Poems, won the T. S. Eliot Prize in 2019. Her latest collection, Was It For This, was published by Faber earlier this year.

Closing 31 December 2023.

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National Novel Writing Month 2023

Information
Closing date: 
30 November 2023
Entry: 
Open to all writers No entry fee
Prize: 
You win by writing a 50,000 word novel

National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is a fun, empowering approach to creative writing. The challenge: draft an entire novel in just one month. Why do it? For 30 wild, exciting, surprising days, you get to silence your inner critic, let your imagination take over, and just create!

• What's National Novel Writing Month?
• Set a Goal
• NaNo Prep 101 Resources
• Connect with Community
• Pep Talkers and NaNo Coaches
• NaNoWriMo Flair
• Events Calendar

Committed to writing 50,000 words in the 30 days of November?

National Novel Writing Month began in 1999 as a daunting but straightforward challenge: to write 50,000 words of a novel in thirty days. Now, each year on November 1, hundreds of thousands of people around the world begin to write, determined to end the month with a first draft. They enter the month as elementary school teachers, mechanics, or stay-at-home parents. They leave novelists.

On November 1, participants begin working towards the goal of writing a 50,000-word novel by 11:59 PM on November 30.

Valuing enthusiasm, determination, and a deadline, NaNoWriMo is for anyone who has ever thought about writing a novel.

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The National Poetry Competition 2023

Information
Closing date: 
31 October 2023
Entry: 
Open to anyone 18 or over from all over the world to enter an unpublished poem of up to 40 lines. Entry fee £8 for first entry, £5 for unlimited subsequent entries
Prize: 
First Prize: £5,000, Second Prize £2,000 and Third Prize £1,000, Commendations £200

The National Poetry CompetitionAnnual poetry prize run by the UK-based Poetry Society established in 1978; accepts entries from all over the world; over 10,000 poems submitted each year

The 2023 National Poetry Competition is one of the world's most prestigious prizes for an unpublished poem of up to 40 lines, open to anyone internationally who is 18 or over. It is judged anonymously and has been won by celebrated poets and by newcomers.

Ten Prizes

First Prize: £5000
Second Prize: £2000
Third Prize: £1000
Commendations: £200

Judges

Jane Draycott, Will Harris and Clare Pollard

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The Moth Nature Writing Prize 2023

Information
Closing date: 
30 September 2023
Entry: 
Open to anyone over the age of 16 with an unpublished piece of nature writing. Entry fee €15 per entry
Prize: 
First Prize €1,000 and a week-long stay at The Circle of Misse in France, Second Prize €500 and Third Prize €250

THE MOTH NATURE WRITING PRIZE

Kathleen Jamie, multi-award-winning author of numerous poetry collections, as well as three works of non-fiction, an acclaimed travel narrative and the groundbreaking nature books, Finding sand Sightlines, will judge The Moth Nature Writing Prize 2023.

The Prize will be awarded to an unpublished piece of writing - poetry or fiction - which best combines exceptional literary merit with an exploration of the writer's relationship with the natural world. The word limit is 4,000 words.

First Prize €1,000 and a week-long stay at The Circle of Misse in France, Second Prize €500 and Third Prize €250 The Moth Nature Writing Prize is open to anyone (over 16) as long as their piece is previously unpublished. There is an entry fee of €15. Closing 30 September 2023.

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Mslexia Women's Fiction Competitions 2023

Information
Closing date: 
18 September 2023
Entry: 
All women are eligible. Not clear whether there’s an entry fee
Prize: 
Various

The MslexiaStylish and lively site for quarterly UK literary magazine read by 12,000 'committed' women writers. Good range of quality writing, information and advice with news, reviews, competitions and interviews, all presented in a friendly fashion. Praised by Helen Dunmore as 'astute, invigorating and above all an excellent read.' www.mslexia.co.uk Women's Fiction Competition 2023 offer a Fiction Competition judged by Sophie Hannah and Natasha Onco with a First Prize of £5,000 and other prizes for all three shortlisted authors for unpublished novels for Adult and Young Adult novels of at least 50,000 words.

The Mslexia Women's Short Fiction Competition 2023 offer a Short Fiction Competition judged by Deborah Moggach with a First Prize of £3,000 and other prizes for all three shortlisted authors for unpublished short fiction.

The Mslexia Women's Flash Fiction Competition 2023 offer a Flash Fiction Competition for up to 300 words judged by Tania Hershman with a First Prize of £500 and other prizes for all three shortlisted authors for unpublished flash fiction.

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First Graphic Novel Award

Information
Closing date: 
14 September 2023
Entry: 
UK residents only. Entry fee £10
Prize: 
First option for publication

The Award is open to all UK comics creators, cartoonists, and artists and writers working as a team, who do not have an agent and have not had a full-length graphic work commercially published. You can be age 18 or 100, or anything in between. You must be resident in the UK.

Entries may be from a single creator, or an artist/writer team, or may be a collaboration between comics artists, writers, and those with a story to tell who may be unable to do so themselves. We are looking for a wide range of creators from different regions within the UK, and with different backgrounds. We want to reflect our society, inclusive of neurodivergent and disabled people, and those with the full rainbow of social, gender and ethnic identities.

If you have any access needs in making this application, please get in touch with us at hello@cartoonmuseum.org

WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR

A 15-30 page extract from a narrative work in progress - nonfiction or fiction, with words (in English) or without, in black and white or in colour.

We are looking for graphic nonfiction, reportage, fiction in any genre, with or without words, in black and white or colour. We cannot pair artists and writers, and we do not accept any scripts, with or without illustration samples. We want comics!

We need to see how YOU want your finished pages to look. We need to see at least eight pages of finished artwork. The rest of the pages are acceptable as readable roughs with text and images clearly sketched out.

We require the work to be submitted both DIGITALLY and as PRINTOUTS (in black and white or colour) to ensure that the judges have access to all the entries. If you have any access needs in making this application, please get in touch with us at hello@cartoonmuseum.org

The winning entrant[s] agree[s] to the use of his/her name[s] and photograph[s] in relation to publicity material. The winning entrant (or entrants) also agrees that SelfMadeHero has first option to consider the finished work for publication.

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2023 Manchester Writing Competitions

Information
Closing date: 
1 September 2023
Entry: 
Open internationally to those aged 16 or over. Entry fee for both prizes £18
Prize: 
Two £10,000 prizes are awarded: the Manchester Poetry Prize for best portfolio of poems and the Manchester Fiction Prize for best short story

The Manchester Writing Competitions offer the UK's biggest literary awards for unpublished work, offered by the country's most successful writing school. The Competition was established in 2008 by Carol Ann Duffy (UK Poet Laureate 2009-19) and has awarded more than £220,000 to writers. Each year two £10,000 prizes are awarded: the Manchester Poetry Prize for best portfolio of 3-5 poems and the Manchester Fiction Prize for best short story up to 2,500 words. Designed to encourage and celebrate new writing across the globe, the competition is open internationally to new and established writers submitting unpublished poems.

Poetry Prize: £10,000

Entry fee: £18 Deadline for Entries: 1 September 2023

Chair of the judges: Malika Booker

£10,000 prize for the best portfolio of three to five poems (maximum combined length: 120 lines). Open internationally to new and established writers aged 16 or over (no upper age limit).

Fiction Prize: £10,000

Entry fee: £18 Deadline for Entries: 1 September 2023

Chair of the judges: Lara Williams

£10,000 prize for the best short story of up to 2,500 words. Open internationally to new and established writers aged 16 or over (no upper age limit).

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The Emma Press open submissions

Information
Closing date: 
8 August 2023
Entry: 
Non-agented submissions in English from anywhere in the world. No entry fee
Prize: 
Publication by The Emma Press and small advances

The Emma Press is an independent publisher specialising in poetry, short fiction and children's books. It was founded in 2012 and is based in Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham, UK. We publish poetry, short-form prose, and books for children.

The Emma Press's open submission will run from 1 August to 8 August.

Poetry, fiction and non-fiction pamphlets can be submitted, as well as children's fiction and children's poetry.

Please read the guidelines on their website carefully.

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Ledbury Poetry Competition 2023

Information
Closing date: 
10 July 2023
Entry: 
All poets writing in English are eligible, no matter where they live. Entry fee £6 per poem
Prize: 
First prize £1,000 cash and a week's poetry course at Arvon, Second Prize £500 and Third prize £250

The Ledbury Poetry Competition has opened for entries, with a closing date of 10 July. All poets writing in English are eligible, no matter where they live.

Poet Philip Gross will be the judge. He said: "What I'll be looking for...? Poems that aren't whatever I might think I'm looking for. Poems intent on being wholly, intensely themselves, regardless of what a judge, the zeitgeist or even their author might want them to be. Poems that have to be poems because they couldn't be expressed in any other way."

The first prize for the competition is £1,000 cash and a week's poetry course at Arvon.
Second Prize is £500, and third prize is £250.

The winners will be invited to read at Ledbury Poetry Festival in 2024.

The Ledbury Poetry Festival runs 30 June - 9 July.

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The Moth Short Story Prize 2023

Information
Closing date: 
30 June 2023
Entry: 
Open to all writers over 16. Entry fee €15 per story
Prize: 
1st prize €3,000, 2nd prize week-long writing retreat at Circle of Misse in France plus €250 travel stipend, 3rd prize €1,000

Every year, a single judge is asked to choose three winning stories to feature in the autumn issue of The Moth, the international art & literature magazine based in Ireland.

This year's judge is Ottessa Moshfegh. Her first novel, Eileen, was shortlisted for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Man Booker Prize and won the PENSupported by eminent writers, this is the English branch of International Pen, which has centres in nearly 100 countries. It fights for freedom of expression and against political censorship. It campaigns for writers harassed, imprisoned and sometimes murdered for their views. http://www.englishpen.org//Hemingway Award for debut fiction. Her next three novels were New York Times bestsellers. She is also the author of a novella, McGlue, and the short story collection Homesick for Another World.

1st prize €3,000
2nd prize week-long writing retreat at Circle of Misse in France plus open travel stipend
3rd prize €1,000

The Prize is open to anyone over 16, as long as the work is original and previously unpublished. There is a word limit of 3,000. The entry fee is €15 per story. Closing 30 June 2023.

The winning story will be printed as part of the summer fiction series in the Irish Times, while the 2nd and 3rd-prize-winning stories will be published in the Irish Times online.

With thanks to Circle of Misse for the superb second prize of a week-long writing retreat in France and an open travel stipend, enabling the 2nd prize winner to travel to France from anywhere in the world.

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